E

The County Commission will vote on an agreement Tuesday to purchase property for a library expansion that may work out better than initially planned.

The commission will meet at 7 p.m. at the Courthouse.

The commission approved a $276,000 funding request in June 2022 to buy property to accommodate the library expansion with money available from federal COVID-19 appropriations and American Recue Plan funding.

The Library is located at 105 S. Porter St. in Winchester with an additional 1.3 acres along Second Avenue Southeast available nearby. That lot is owned by Nashville South LLC, next to the Old Jail Museum.

Library Director Tina Stevens had said the Nashville South property isn’t adjacent to the current library property because a lot, owned by a property owner who wished not to sell, is in between. She said the Nashville South property is very close by and would work well with the library’s future expansion plans.

However, Commissioner David Eldridge, a Finance Committee member, told the committee on Jan. 5 that the circumstances have changed.

He said the formerly unwilling property owner has agreed to sell, the transaction for that property will be able to be completed for the amount already budgeted, and the library will be able to be expanded on adjacent property and not on intermittently owned land.

“The amount has not changed, just the property that’s being purchased,” Eldridge told the committee.

The committee forwarded a resolution to the commission that will authorize an agreement with the Franklin County Library Board of Trustees to purchase the adjacent property with $277,000 of the $320,000 cost being appropriated from the federal COVID-19 appropriations and American Recue Plan funding and the remaining purchase costs being provided through the library’s fund balance.

Eldridge said the adjacent property has a building that would probably be able to accommodate record storage and serve as an archiving facility.

When Stevens addressed county leaders last year about the library’s expansion goals, she said plans were to buy property to prepare for the future with a Franklin County population growing, creating a greater need for expanded library facilities.

Stevens said the library is a tremendous asset to Franklin County and receives extensive use. She added that its importance will grow in the future as the county expands, increasing its demand.

Stevens said research indicates a need for a 30,000-square foot facility for the library to accommodate its use in the future.

She said the current library totals 11,469 square feet with about 25 percent of that being administrative space, leaving about 8,000 square feet from which to serve the public.

Dave Van Buskirk, who is chairman of the library’s Board of Trustees, had said as many as 200 children have been involved in summer reading programs, and the library has difficulty in being able to accommodate them.

“The space is just too small,” he said.

Stevens had said the library falls far short of what the state deems libraries should be in size based on their county populations.